December 18, 2011

Cartoon: Anglo-French Pissing Contest

This cartoon by Schrank from The Independent on Sunday relates to the current war of words between Britain and France over the state of the two countries' economies. The tensions were inflamed when Nicolas Sarkozy's Finance Minister became the latest in a series of senior French figures to attack the British Government's handling of the economy. Read more >>

Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron are shown as schoolboys peeing off the edge of a snow-covered cliff in the shape of the euro sign. Angela Merkel, who seems to be their schoolmistress (note the cane) looks on sternly. Sarkozy tells Cameron: "My credit rating's higher than yours!"

COMMENTARYLots of symbolism here. Sarkozy and Cameron are engaged in a pissing contest, literally in the cartoon and figuratively in the aforementioned economic war of words. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines a pissing contest as "a competition to see who can urinate the farthest or highest" and (in extended use) as "any contest which is futile or purposeless especially ones pursued in a conspicuously aggressive manner."

As for the credit rating reference, The Guardian sums up the situation thus:

As the big credit rating firms assess whether to strip France of its prized AAA status, Bank of France chief Christian Noyer this week produced a long list of reasons why he believes the agencies should turn their fire on Britain before his own country.

France's finance minister François Baroin put things even more bluntly: "We'd rather be French than British in economic terms."

The portrayal of Sarkozy and Cameron as schoolboys may be a reference to the fact that the French President described Cameron as an "obstinate kid" after their public falling-out during the last EU summit.

And depicting Angela Merkel as a stern-looking schoolmistress with a cane is an obvious reference to Germany's insistence on imposing strict fiscal austerity measures on recalcitrant euro zone economies.

The cartoonist seems to be saying that Britain and France are both standing on the precipice (facing economic collapse), so the question of who deserves the higher credit rating is probably irrelevant. (For the record, Britain and France are still triple-A rated, though a French downgrade looks to be imminent).

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Cartoon: Anglo-French Pissing Contest

This cartoon by Schrank from The Independent on Sunday relates to the current war of words between Britain and France over the state of the two countries' economies. The tensions were inflamed when Nicolas Sarkozy's Finance Minister became the latest in a series of senior French figures to attack the British Government's handling of the economy. Read more >>

Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron are shown as schoolboys peeing off the edge of a snow-covered cliff in the shape of the euro sign. Angela Merkel, who seems to be their schoolmistress (note the cane) looks on sternly. Sarkozy tells Cameron: "My credit rating's higher than yours!"

COMMENTARYLots of symbolism here. Sarkozy and Cameron are engaged in a pissing contest, literally in the cartoon and figuratively in the aforementioned economic war of words. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines a pissing contest as "a competition to see who can urinate the farthest or highest" and (in extended use) as "any contest which is futile or purposeless especially ones pursued in a conspicuously aggressive manner."

As for the credit rating reference, The Guardian sums up the situation thus:

As the big credit rating firms assess whether to strip France of its prized AAA status, Bank of France chief Christian Noyer this week produced a long list of reasons why he believes the agencies should turn their fire on Britain before his own country.

France's finance minister François Baroin put things even more bluntly: "We'd rather be French than British in economic terms."

The portrayal of Sarkozy and Cameron as schoolboys may be a reference to the fact that the French President described Cameron as an "obstinate kid" after their public falling-out during the last EU summit.

And depicting Angela Merkel as a stern-looking schoolmistress with a cane is an obvious reference to Germany's insistence on imposing strict fiscal austerity measures on recalcitrant euro zone economies.

The cartoonist seems to be saying that Britain and France are both standing on the precipice (facing economic collapse), so the question of who deserves the higher credit rating is probably irrelevant. (For the record, Britain and France are still triple-A rated, though a French downgrade looks to be imminent).